Associate Food Scientist

Sugar Bowl Bakery is a renowned bakery dedicated to crafting simple, delicious baked goods that bring joy to everyday moments. With a strong commitment to quality, Sugar Bowl Bakery offers a delightful range of treats including their rich chocolatey Brownie Bites, buttery soft Madeleines, and subtly sweet Palmiers. Each item is carefully crafted with high-quality ingredients to ensure exceptional taste and satisfaction for customers. Known for their dedication to excellence and innovation in bakery products, Sugar Bowl Bakery has built a reputation for creating perfect portioned baked goods that bring an experience of sweetness and delight with every bite. The company takes pride in its commitment to upholding standards of taste, quality, and consumer satisfaction, making it a sought-after place for talented professionals passionate about the culinary arts and food science.

As an Associate Food Scientist at Sugar Bowl Bakery, you will play a pivotal role in the product development and innovation processes that drive the continual evolution of the bakery’s offerings. This is an on-site position based in Hayward, California, at the company’s headquarters, and candidates must be within a commutable distance. The role primarily involves bench-scale product development tasks, support for plant trials, analytical work, and maintaining meticulous technical documentation. This position demands strong execution of routine development activities while troubleshooting within established parameters and collaborating across multiple functions to ensure products meet rigorous quality, safety, cost, and brand standards.

The Associate Food Scientist will be responsible for improving existing products as well as developing new formulas and processes for seasonal items, renovations, and quality improvements. This is achieved by preparing prototypes, sale samples, and test-kitchen batches, carefully following established batch protocols and weighing ingredients accurately. Monitoring industry trends and customer needs is also an essential aspect, which helps in translating market insights into viable concepts for the research and development pipeline. The role involves active participation in sensory evaluations and quality control checks to ensure prototypes align with desired specifications in appearance, texture, weight, and process parameters.

In addition to product development, the Associate Food Scientist manages and supports plant trial execution including trial design, material management, sample collection, and summarizing trial outcomes with recommendations. Partnering with different departments such as Operations, Food Safety Quality Assurance (FSQA), Maintenance/Engineering, and Procurement, the position works to resolve production issues and update standard operating procedures accordingly. Maintaining thorough and up-to-date technical documentation is critical, covering product specifications, batch sheets, SOPs, and process standards to ensure traceability and preparedness for commercialization.

The role also encompasses research into ingredients and evaluating alternatives to enhance cost efficiency, quality, availability, and performance. Responsibilities include supporting shelf-life studies, performing basic nutritional analysis, assisting with formula costing, and documenting related data systematically. Ensuring compliance with product claims and adherence to food safety and quality practices such as GMPs, allergen controls, and HACCP is integral to the job. Additionally, the Associate Food Scientist is instrumental in the upkeep of the R&D lab and kitchen environments, maintaining sanitation, equipment, and material organization to foster an efficient workspace.

Candidates for this role are expected to have a Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Culinary, Culinary Science, Bakery Science, Nutrition, or a related field, or equivalent applied experience. A background with 1 to 3 years of hands-on experience in food R&D, product development, or food manufacturing is crucial, with bakery experience preferred. Skills with documentation tools (Office, AI, ERP), strong attention to detail, and excellent communication abilities in a fast-paced environment are necessary. The job requires physical stamina to work in lab and plant manufacturing areas, including lifting up to 50 pounds, standing or walking for extended periods, and tasting foods that may contain common allergens. This dynamic and vital position at Sugar Bowl Bakery offers an exciting opportunity for those who are passionate about innovative bakery product development and quality assurance on a meaningful scale.